Star Wars Rebels Review!

 Alright! Today I am reviewing the sequel to the much-beloved and critically acclaimed Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The series in question is, of course, Star Wars Rebels, a much worse but still partly enjoyable show. 

Rebels is very, very, kid-friendly. Annoyingly so. So kid-friendly to the point where any interesting moments, character beats, conflicts, or villains are effectively neutered in favor of that TV-PG. Basically, all of the deaths in Rebels are off-screen explosions (Often caused by the rebels, ironically). There's nothing close to the many beheadings or politically motivated scheming that The Clone Wars had.

And maybe it's unfair to compare Rebels to The Clone Wars... but it's really not. Rebels should have been way closer in tone to The Clone Wars than standard children's fare. You could've really dug deep into the TV-PG violence and destruction that the Empire has done, to the moral dilemma of how the rebels kill stormtroopers. But... they didn't. It's actually reminiscent of the Sequel Trilogy, which really wanted to prove that stormtroopers are people, despite having the main characters gleefully shoot them down at every chance. 

The Empire is bad and needs to be stopped because it oppresses people, but the rebels continually blowing up several Empire ships, killing hundreds of thousands of people isn't? 

So other than a conflicting moral message, Rebels was also flawed through its characters. Basically, you have 6 main characters - Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, Sabine Wren, Hera Syndulla, Zeb, and Chopper. 

Characters

The main character of the show, Ezra Bridger, is very, very annoying in the first two seasons. He's basically space Aladdin, and brings up his dead parents to a point where it rivals Katara's "My mother was killed by the Fire Nation." For the entirety of his training, people talk about how he'll be easily tempted by the Dark Side, and yet it's not until season three that we see him do anything remotely Dark Side-y. He also suffers from main character syndrome, which is when a newcomer's opinion is seen as just as important as the established characters who know more, and he gets screentime in things that he really shouldn't have screentime in.

Kanan Jarrus was an excellent character.  A very fine addition to Star Wars' collection. The unsure Jedi master trying to do his best. And Hera Syndulla was also a good character, although she was sadly relegated to the getaway driver or love interest. By the way, when Kanan and Hera finally became a couple, it meant nothing. I just kind of assumed they were always a couple... 

Sabine Wren was a bit OP. She was in the Imperial Academy, defected, became a pretty respectable bounty hunter, joined the Rebel Alliance, and became the Queen of Mandalore. And she's 16. That's kind of an OP background, especially when she's not particularly likable. She's kind of... there. Her personality is art. 

Fred Jones and Space Aladdin.

Zeb was annoying for most of his appearances, and then he was sidelined for season three and most of season four. But he has some pretty good one liners, so I'll give him that. And there's an idea that he should've never existed and Captain Rex would be able to fill the role, which sounds... way better. 

Chopper was my least favorite character on the show. He was just another passive-aggressive droid, but he just stood out as lazy because of his voice. It wasn't beeps or whistles like R2, it was just a thinly veiled digital alteration of Dave Filoni's voice.

The show did an excellent job portraying existing characters. Ahsoka has some totally dope moments in the first two seasons, and Darth Vader is portrayed as intimidating as he should be. Maul completes his arc here, finally coming face to face with Kenobi, and Hondo is definitely still Hondo, who easily has the funniest one-liners of the show.

The show wasn't particularly clever about character names. Any time they said "Agent Kallus," I laughed on the inside. That's got to be the laziest villain name, although that's kind of a trademark for Star Wars, what with General Grievous, Darth Maul, Darth Sidious, and, the worst one, Savage Oppress. 

Speaking of Agent Kallus, he was definitely a high point of the show. An Empire agent who realized the error of his ways and defected to the rebels, and then grew out his hair. I liked him. 

But, by far and away, the best character on the show was Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn was originally created for the (Now not canon) Star Wars novel trilogy Heir of the Empire, where he was the main villain for the New Republic after the Empire fell. A brilliant strategist and commander, Rebels did not deserve a character as great as Thrawn. They were even able to pull off him failing to kill the rebels every episode as a victory. Totally dope character, can't wait to see him in Ahsoka.

Rebels did not deserve Thrawn.

Lore

Star Wars Rebels made a ton of neat additions to the lore of Star Wars. And not all of it was bad! Although a big chunk of it was. The worst addition, by far, was the lightsaber helicopters. The lightsaber helicopters are introduced once in the season two finale and never show up again, and that's because they're stupid.

My father (Who I watch shows with) and I both started laughing once the Inquisitors take out their double-bladed lightsaber, make them start spinning, and then fly away. It was ridiculous, and not even possible. Lightsabers are made out of, like, plasma. There's no way plasma spinning quickly can lift 200 pound Sith into the air. 

If your plot requires lightsaber helicopters, it's time to rethink your plot. 

The Kenobi vs. Maul fight disappointed a lot of people. I personally liked the symbolism, the idea that the fight is over in three hits, even if it is extremely anticlimactic. But my biggest problem was that Maul died from an overhead hit, yet was not sliced in half. At the angle Kenobi hits Maul, there's no way he should have died without his face getting sliced in half. 

Lightsabers in general are kind of useless here. They're mostly used to deflect blaster bolts, and when they do make contact with people, they don't hurt them. Kanan Jarrus becomes blinded in the season two finale because Maul hits his face with a lightsaber. It's more of the "Star Wars lost it's violence" deal that happened once it was bought by Disney, once again reminding me of Finn getting sliced across the back with no damage, and Kylo Ren getting sliced in the face with only a scar. I mean, dudes. Come one. Lightsabers cut through humans super easily. They should all be dead. 

Rebels also introduces a totally B.S. plot device in the last four episodes called "The World between Worlds," which was just dropped out of nowhere and went away as fast as it came. But it didn't absolutely destroy previously established lore, so it's kind of a neutral force. And I liked how it tied into the Father, Daughter, and Son arc from The Clone Wars. That was neat. 

A very cool concept, visually. Unfortunately, it just dropped in out of nowhere.

Plot

The plot of Rebels needed much work. Unlike The Clone Wars before it or Avatar: The Last Airbender (The perfect example of everything), no season-long build-ups are present. Instead of delicately balancing between episodic adventures and overarching plots, Rebels leans hard into episodic. So episodic you could skip just about the entire series. 

Little ground is covered in terms of plot. Little ground is covered in terms of characters. And little ground is covered in terms of interest. 

My biggest gripe with Rebels may be how often they bring up Lothal. Lothal is where the first season takes place and where Ezra Bridger is from, but it's basically just a grassy field with some big wolves. It's nothing special -- And yet 90% of the series is "We need to return to Lothal," "Save Lothal," "Go back to Lothal." I was sick of it by season one. If you're being hunted by the Empire, why are you staying on the planet where they know you are?

"Why does everyone want to go back to Jakku Lothal?"

I was also sick of Ezra's parents. Ezra is so hung up on his dead parents it's hard to believe he didn't become Batman. A heavy portion of Ezra's character deals with his parents and their legacy, and yet... we never knew his parents. All we're told is that they're great people. To fix this, I would've had his parents be alive during season one, and then die in the finale. Actually seeing his parents die as he learns the force would lend credence to Ezra being tempted by the Dark Side, as well as get the audience to care about Lothal. 

Basically, no one cares if someone died if they're never established as a character. Mufasa works a lot better than Cinderella's dad because we actually get a chance to see Mufasa care for their kid. Imagine if The Lion King started with Mufasa dead, and all the emotional attachment the audience gets to Mufasa is from Timon and Pumbaa telling Simba how great his dad was. That's basically what Rebels feels like. 

The score for the show (Especially season one) basically plugged the force theme every chance it could get. Character looking at the sun? Boom, force theme. Character using the force, or talking about it? Boom, force theme. Characters walking into the Ghost? Boom, force theme. They overdid it. 

"They were good people." - Literally any time his parents are brought up.

The animation was also trash, honestly. Some of the landscape shots were very beautiful, and the World Between Worlds was visually impressive, but overall the animation isn't that great and definitely pales in comparison to The Clone Wars. Sticking with The Clone Wars' animation would've really, really helped the show. Without it, it feels even more like a kid's show. 

The animation for human characters had much to be desired. They felt like CG models, not like the living people that The Clone Wars already had perfected. Why they didn't stick with the existing technology is beyond me (But who knows what the budget was).

And none of this is helped by the character designs. These are some of the most generic, most explicitly "Aimed at kids" designs I've seen, on par with Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous in effort and creativity. Most of the characters are stuck in the same outfits for the entire show, and outfits that are oversimplified and brightly colored at that.

Ezra wears an orange jacket for the entire show. A bright orange and yellow jacket. This itself isn't too bad. Neither is the green shirt Kanan rocks or the orange jumpsuit that Hera Syndulla wore. The biggest atrocity was Zeb. Zeb is a black striped purple alien stuck in a green and bright yellow outfit. It's an assault on the eyes. 

They also completely butchered the designs for Rex and Hondo. Rex has just about the strongest sternal notch and clavicle ever put to screen. It's also an atrocity that we never get to see Old Man Rex put on his outfit from The Clone Wars. And Hondo, while stealing the show every time he's onscreen, has such a huge downgrade in his wardrobe that it hurts. Gone is the dope red and black trenchcoat and pirate attire, replaced by a red shirt with white sleeves. It physically hurts. 

Rebels never met a character whose design they couldn't butcher.

Overall

Overall, I could count the episodes of Rebels I actually enjoyed, would recommend, and wouldn't mind watching again on two hands: 

1. Shroud of Darkness (Season 2, Episode 18)
2. Twilight Apprentice (Season 2, Episodes 21 and 22)
3. Steps Into Shadow (Season 3, Episode 1 and 2)
4. Trials of Darksaber (Season 3, Episode 15)
5. Twin Suns (Season 3, Episode 20)
6. Jedi Knight (Season 4, Episode 10)
7. Wolves and a Door (Season 4, Episode 12)
8. A World Between Worlds (Season 4, Episode 13)
9. A Fool's Hope (Season 4, Episode 14)
10. Family Reunion - and Farewell (Season 4, Episode 15)

That's 10 episodes. 10 episodes out of 75, which means I mathematically only enjoyed 13% of the show. Comparing that to the 48/133 episodes of The Clone Wars which I love (Not passable, loved), that's still 36% of the show, and 38 episodes more. It's such a huge downgrade. And for the Rebels count, I had to include episodes that are somewhat mediocre (Twin Suns, while featuring Obi-Wan, mostly focuses on Ezra, which drags the episode down).

Rebels never hits the emotional highs or the shocking brutality of its predecessor. On its own, it's mostly subpar. I cannot in good conscience recommend this series, because it's not that good. People on the internet say it gets better after season two, and while they are right, I think the show only picks up steam in the final third of its last season, which is honestly pathetic. While The Clone Wars ended the series with the show's (And Star Wars') best content, Rebels ended with above-average Rebels content, which is just B or C tier Clone Wars episodes. 

The only emotion the show generates is from pre-existing characters like Ahsoka.

Rebels' had three saving graces: Grand Admiral Thrawn, Kanan Jarrus, and the Ahsoka vs. Darth Vader fight (And even that was annoyingly interrupted by Ezra). Everything else was "Meh." And Grand Admiral Thrawn doesn't even have much screentime!. He appears in, like, 16 episodes! And each time for an average of what I'd guess is two-ish minutes!

Rebels also had this one really funny thing that's another bullet point in a long list of where the Sequel Trilogy made stupid decisions. In Rebels, you have a triangle-shaped Sith Holocron, which teaches you some Dark Side stuff. But in The Rise of Skywalker, you have a triangle-shaped Sith Wayfinder, which... teaches you the location of Dark Side stuff. If they already had an existing triangular-shaped Sith object that tells you stuff, why bother creating a new one when you could tie it into existing lore? So many bad decisions in that trilogy. 

Overall, I give Rebels a 4/10. "Star Wars Rebels is, plainly put, not very good. While a handful of episodes are enjoyable, it's bogged down by simplistic designs, bland animation, kid-friendly violence, and a persistent dodging of any meaningful or interesting plot."

Below average television that I'll forget most of in a week.